A comedian fronting the Scottish Government’s Covid-19 health campaign has been axed over “unacceptable tweets”.
Janey Godley, 60, who found viral fame with her dubbed pastiches of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s coronavirus news briefings in recent months, apologised for her “offensive, hurtful language”.
Ms Godley was paid a reported £12,000 for the TV adverts, which were running online under the hashtag #Stopthespike amid rising coronavirus rates.
From me pic.twitter.com/Z0NuI6MoBr
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) September 9, 2021
According to The Scottish Sun and US news website the Daily Beast, Ms Godley made offensive remarks about black American celebrities including Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland, and rappers 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.
In a statement on Twitter on Thursday, Ms Godley said: “I thought being an outspoken comedian meant I could get away with saying anything I wanted and people would accept that and not take it out of context, but that’s completely wrong.
Let’s look after each other. Let’s stop the spike. Wear a mask and follow public health guidelines to protect you, your friends, and most importantly your family! #StopTheSpike #COVID19 #Coronavirus #abhscp #argyll #bute pic.twitter.com/sxeKoAa7qH
— Argyll and Bute HSCP (@abhscp) September 7, 2021
“I have to stand up and own my offensive, hurtful language and apologise. They have horrific undertones and I deserve all the criticism that comes my way.”
Last October, Ms Sturgeon referred to Godley as her “alter ego” and praised her for “giving us reasons to laugh in an otherwise dark time”.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “A series of unacceptable tweets by Janey Godley have been brought to our attention and, while she has rightly apologised, trust in our public health messages at this time is paramount.
“We have therefore taken the decision to withdraw any further campaign material in which Ms Godley features. The material will be discontinued immediately on our own channels and withdrawn as soon as possible from external media.”
